Orphan trains carried more than 250,000 homeless children from the East Coast to the Midwest farmlands between 1854 and 1929. A large portion of them settled in Henry County and grew up on local farms in this area. Others went on to Iowa and Kansas.

There were many reasons and stories of why the children rode the orphan trains. Each is different in many ways, and yet, they all fought for the same goals – happiness and a family to love them.